MILESTONES

 

1. Premiere Issue APRIL 1925

The first issue of Arizona Highways was just 26 pages, including ads, and the newsstand price was 10 cents. A thousand copies were printed, meaning only a handful of readers saw the magazine's first typo. Turns out, we spelled "Highway" with two "i's" in the caption for the cover photo: "The cover picture for the first issue of Arizona Highways shows some of the scenery along the Prescott-White Spar Forest Project, which connects with the White Spar-Congress Hiighway. It is one of the prettiest scenic roads in the State."

2. The First Poem MAY 1925

Poetry has been an important component of the magazine since the early days. The first poem we published, The Road Fan's Lay, was written by Ira L. Wood, who was an accountant for the Arizona Highway Department. There's no record of how well his left brain worked on balance sheets and business tax forms, but his right brain was impressive and prolific we published dozens of his poems in the 1920s and '30s.

3. Grand Canyon Cover MARCH 1926

It took us 12 issues to figure out that the Grand Canyon would make a great cover subject, but finally, we did. The image is an understated black-and-white. Intriguing, but not revealing. The caption reads: "Our cover this month is an unusual scene of one of the great scenic wonders of the world the Grand Canyon. The photograph is the property of W.W. Lane, chief engineer of the Arizona Highway Department." There isn't any information about where the photo was made, but renowned Canyon artist Bruce Aiken, who knows the natural wonder as well as anyone, thinks it was shot at Yavapai Point. "I've painted from this location," he told me. "If you look closely into the shadowy area on the right side, just above the highlighted area, you can see Phantom Ranch. Barely. The word 'Highways' obscures Isis Temple and Buddha Temple at the top."

4. "Pretentious" Travel Issue JUNE 1928

Despite our mandated purpose as a trade journal for civil engineers, Editor Vincent J. Keating could see beyond the road graders. In a plug for our June 1928 issue, he wrote: "The June issue of Arizona Highways will be the first of a series of 'Vacation Numbers' which will be published annually for the information of citizens of Arizona and tourists from other states who plan to tour the state this summer and future summers. The 'Vacation Number' of 1928 will be the most pretentious issue of Arizona Highways that has yet appeared." Pretentious? There might have been a more accurate word, but the issue did include more than a dozen travel stories, 33 blackand-white photographs, and dozens of tourism ads for towns and cities all over the state.

5. Hint of Color MAY 1929

May 1929 marked another milestone for the magazine: It was the first time we used color on a cover. By modern standards, it was pretty basic, like an overhead projector compared to a digital flat screen. But for us, it was Another step in our evolution. The cover subject is Navajo Bridge — at the time, it was known as Grand Canyon Bridge — and the image is a black-and-white photograph that appears to be hand-tinted in some areas, including the rocks in Marble Canyon, which have a reddish-brown color. The Colorado River, however, is grayish-white, making it look like a frozen waterway on another planet. The logo is blue, and the cover lines — "Vacationland" and "Grand Canyon Bridge" — are in red.

6. First Illustration OCTOBER 1929

On an otherwise typical day in October 1929, 16 million shares were traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the market crashed, and history was made. Simultaneously, we published our first-ever illustration. It's an Old West scene of Tombstone that's paired with a poem titled Helldorado Town, by Ira L. Wood. The artwork, by Jack Haines — an engineering draftsman for the Arizona Highway Department — is dark and unsettling, reflecting a mood that everyone in the world would have been feeling in the wake of Black Monday.

7. Illustrated Cover MAY 1930

Of the nearly 1,200 covers we've published, only a handful or two have been illustrated. The first is a mystery to us. There's no explanation for why our editor veered away from a photograph. And there's no artist credit inside. Even more mystifying is the cover's meaning. Evergreens growing next to saguaros and agaves, a Northwoods cabin next to an old adobe building, looming skyscrapers on the horizon, an inset photograph of what appears to be Southern Arizona capped by a sketch of a bridge ... it was saying something. We're just not sure what.

8. Clara Lee (Fraps) Tanner MARCH 1931

On the long list of important contributors who helped put Arizona Highways on the map, the first name belongs to Clara Lee Fraps. In March 1931, she wrote a piece titled Indian Customs, Centuries Old, Retained by Arizona Tribes. She was unmarried at the time but would later marry John Frederick Tanner, the owner of an American Indian craft store in Tucson. By that time, she'd been appointed to the faculty of the University of Arizona, where she taught in the Department of Anthropology. Over the next 50 years, Clara Lee Tanner would become one of the state's most distinguished authorities on Southwestern Indian culture and arts, and a frequent contributor to Arizona Highways — for many of those stories in the 1960s and '70s, she was paired with legendary photographer Jerry Jacka. This month, she joins him and 13 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

9. Norman G. Wallace AUGUST 1932

Another key figure in our history made his debut in August 1932, although he didn't get a byline until a few months later, on page 10 of our November issue: "Arizona Highways has been in May 1930 receipt of numerous inquiries regarding the cover pages and drawings in the last few issues, asking information as to the artists and complimenting the character of the work. Mr. Norman G. Wallace, who has so generously furnished the cover page for the current issue, as well as those for the past three months, is an engineer in the employ of the Highway Department. His hobby is photography, and his collection of Arizona scenes is unexcelled. Mr. Wallace has no expensive equipment but uses an ordinary 8 by 10 view camera. The cover page this month is a view on the Oak Creek Highway." Like Clara Lee Tanner, Mr. Wallace is in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

10. George M. Avey APRIL 1935

Ten years after the magazine's premiere, George Avey, a draftsman for the Arizona Highway Department, made his debut. At the time, no one could have known that he'd go on to become one of our three founding fathers — an incomparable triumvirate that would transition Arizona Highways from a trade journal into a magazine read around the world — but his talent as an artist and illustrator was obvious. His premiere piece for the magazine was a cartoon titled Highway Headaches. Five pages later, he'd get another byline, this time for a piece of art illustrating a story titled Hosses 'Jest Hosses. He continued making contributions until 1938, when Editor Raymond Carlson made him his art director. In April 1946, he was officially added to the masthead.

11. New Cover Design JULY 1935

Another key figure in our history made his debut in August 1932, although he didn't get a byline until a few months later, on page 10 of our November issue: "Arizona Highways has been in May 1930 receipt of numerous inquiries regarding the cover pages and drawings in the last few issues, asking information as to the artists and complimenting the character of the work. Mr. Norman G. Wallace, who has so generously furnished the cover page for the current issue, as well as those for the past three months, is an engineer in the employ of the Highway Department. His hobby is photography, and his collection of Arizona scenes is unexcelled. Mr. Wallace has no expensive equipment but uses an ordinary 8 by 10 view camera. The cover page this month is a view on the Oak Creek Highway." Like Clara Lee Tanner, Mr. Wallace is in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

12. Harriet F. Cobb Map SEPTEMBER 1935

Of the hundreds of maps we've published in our history, one of the earliest — and best — was created by Harriet F. Cobb. When it debuted in September 1935, an editor's note described it this way: “Through the bird's eye from the stratosphere, Arizona would appear like the new map depicts the state on the back cover page of Arizona Highways. The map, loaned by artist Harriet F. Cobb, will require hours of study to fully appreciate its detail and depth.” It would be a mainstay of the back cover until January 1938 and the arrival of Editor Raymond Carlson. In the subsequent decades, Mrs. Cobb would become renowned for her meticulous bas-relief topographical maps of Arizona.

13. Tales of Calabazas SEPTEMBER 1936

In September 1936, we debuted a series titled Tales of Calabazas . “The following,” Editor John McPhee wrote, “is the firstof a series of stories of Calabazas, the Old West, rewritten by Elizabeth Toohey, State Historian, from the Reminiscences of Cabell Brown.” The series was illustrated by Stan Shaw, a talented artist who had been contributing to the magazine for several months. Tales of Calabazas, which continued for eight installments, is the second-longest-running series in the history of the magazine — the longest, Cavalcade of History by Bill Ahrendt, ran 16 times from May 1987 to February 1990.

14. Yuletide in Arizona... DECEMBER 1936

Three words and one ellipsis. Together, they formed a headline that heralded a holiday tradition that's been celebrated ever since. At the time, our editor, John McPhee, couldn't have known what he was starting. Most likely, he was just trying to add some seasonal pizzazz to the black-and-white magazine. Whatever the impetus,he published five photographs in December 1936 under the headline Yuletide in Arizona.... With captions such as “Mistletoe clinging to a desert mesquite” and “Snowstorm in a pine forest near Flagstaff,” it was our first, albeit modest, portfolio dedicated to the Christmas season, and it would set the stage for what would become an annual issue devoted to the natural splendors of Arizona and the spirit of the season.

15. First Four-Color Cover JULY 1937

After the arrival of our fifth editor, Bert Campbell, the content shifted away from trade journal content to approximately 80 percent travel. Whether or not it was intentional, Mr. Campbell was creating the blue-print for what the magazine would become. The biggest change came in July. In that issue, for the first time in our history, we published a four-color cover. It’s a painting of three American Indians — the painting, by Hernando G. Villa, was provided to us by the Santa Fe Railway. Other than a 24-word caption on page 1, there’s no fanfare. But there should have been. Four-color photography and covers like that would become a trademark that earned the magazine recognition around the world — and would get us banned in the Soviet Union in the 1960s.

 

16. First Photo Contest JUNE 1938

In February 1938, Raymond Carlson, our sixth editor, launched our firstever photo contest. It was his second issue as editor, and he was intent on transitioning the magazine from a monotonous trade journal to something more interesting, and more visual, like Life, Look and National Geographic. To get there, he needed to build an archive, but there weren't many professional photographers in the Southwest in the late 1930s. Thus, the contest. "Hundreds of pictures were submitted by pictorialists from all over Arizona," he wrote. First place went to Norman Rhoads Garrett for On the Rim, a beautiful black-and-white of the Grand Canyon. "That ellusive, evasive something which everyone feels upon seeing the Grand Canyon," Mr. Carlson wrote, "seems to be grasped in this pictorial. Perhaps the tree in the foreground, gnarled and weather-beaten, lends an intangible mystery to the Canyon in the distance. A prepossessing view!"

17. First Four-Color Cover Photo JULY 1938

Although the imagery was mostly monotone when Raymond Carlson took over, he envisioned a magazine filled with color photography. In his July 1938 column, he asked: "How can we, through the medium of black and white, paint a picture of the gold in an Arizona sunset, portray the blue of an Arizona sky, tell the fiery red and green of an Arizona desert in bloom? We therefore resort to color photography in this issue's cover page to faithfully portray one colorful portion of the state." It was a shot of lower Oak Creek Canyon by Norman G. Wallace, and Mr. Carlson liked what he saw: "The faithful photographer has caught the deep red of the cliffs, the purple hue of the mountains in the background, the extravagance and richness of one of capricious Nature's finest paintings in the state."

18. Esther Henderson DECEMBER 1938

The first photograph Raymond Carlson ever purchased was made by Esther Henderson, who started sharing her work with us in December 1938. "After seven years in show business," she said, "I chose photography for a career because it seemed to promise freedom with creativity. I chose the Southwest because of Horace Greeley's historic advice!" In his column that month, Mr. Carlson wrote: "We are exceptionally pleased by the two photographic presentations of the Southwest scene by Miss Esther Henderson. Miss Henderson is a portrait photographer who gave up a stage career to make a name for herself in negatives and prints. She lives in Tucson." This month, she joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

19. Ross Santee JANUARY 1939

"Ross Santee writes straight, draws straight, talks straight and therein lies the charm," Editor Raymond Carlson wrote in the official introduction of Ross Santee to Arizona Highways. In October 1936, we published a review of one of his books, and in August 1936, we ran an illustration that appears to have been his but didn't have a byline. In January 1939, we officially debuted his artwork. "Although Ross Santee was born in Indiana and lived as a youth in the Midwest and East," Mr. Carlson wrote, "it was in Arizona that he was inspired to his place in art and letters. He is in every way a Westerner, and few artists or authors have dealt with the Western scene as sympathetically or as honestly." This month, he joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

20. Josef Muench JULY 1939

"We were asked by an interested person where we get the pictures that appear in Arizona Highways," Editor Raymond Carlson wrote in his July 1939 column. "Well, sometimes we chase down the pictures and sometimes the pictures chase us down. For instance: One dull Wednesday a couple of weeks ago, when we would have liked to go fishing but couldn't, the mail man delivered a package. It was from Josef Muench of Santa Barbara, a photographer whose artistic work is much in evidence this issue. What had been a dull Wednesday proved to be very exciting." His first photograph for us landed on our front cover that month. In the subsequent decades, we would publish hundreds, maybe a thousand, of his images. And this month, he joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

21. Barry Goldwater AUGUST 1939

Although he's best known around the country as a politician, Barry Goldwater played a key role in the early history of our magazine. "My photographs have been taken primarily to record what Arizona looked like during my life," he said. "The first photograph I sold to Arizona Highways was in 1939. Editor Raymond Carlson and I were driving along one day by Coal Mine Canyon up near Tuba City. Ray said, 'You wouldn't have a picture of that, would you?' I said, 'Yeah, I've got a good one." The image ran on page 16 of our August 1939 issue. It was just the beginning. Many more have followed, including a portrait from June 1940 that Mr. Goldwater titled The Navajo. "That's one of my better pictures," he said. "It was taken back in 1938 at an Indian fair near Window Rock."

22. Joyce Rockwood OCTOBER 1939

At the time of her debut, Joyce Rockwood was the wife of photographer Josef Muench. That's how she met our editor, but her place in our magazine's history is based exclusively on her incredible talent as a writer. In her first piece, Papago Baby Shine, there's a hint of that talent, but where she excelled was in her travel writing, especially when describing Mother Nature. Consider this, from The Green Robe of the Kaibab in July 1954: "Though far inland, the pounding of waves can be heard here, as winds rush through the upper balconies of tree tops in a sea of surging sound, while on the soft carpet underneath, many animals step cautiously." Like Robert Frost, her words could take a reader anywhere in the great outdoors. This month, she joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

23. Carlos Elmer JUNE 1940

Carlos Elmer was just 19 years old when he made his debut in Arizona Highways with a handful of photographs from Havasu Canyon. (His son, Frank, was 20 when he made his debut many years later.) In addition to being a gifted photographer, he could write, which isn't common. But photography was his greatest contribution to our magazine and others, including Fortune, Reader's Digest and Sunset . "Carlos is not a professional photographer," Editor Raymond Carlson wrote, "but that does not detract from his skill or his passion for the art. His theme is a simple one — photography is fun. He recommends the camera as an antidote for the malady of our bustling and hurried age." This month, he joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

24. Irvin S. Cobb JULY 1940

By the time we published a story by Irvin S. Cobb, a journalist known for his ironic and penetrating humor, he was already well known, having written more than 60 books and thousands of columns for journals — he even acted in motion pictures. His story for us was serendipitous. "Our leading article this month," Editor Raymond Carlson wrote in April 1940, "is by that grand American author and personality: Irvin S. Cobb. We wish we could boast about our editorial inspiration in seeking out Mr. Cobb and persuading him to tell us of Rainbow Bridge. It would be a good story, but alas, it would not be true. One afternoon in the mail a bulky package arrived in our office, with a short note appended in which the author hoped we could find room for his article. He said he would like to repay a debt for many pleasant days spent in exploring the remote corners of our state."

25. Color Portfolio DECEMBER 1940

By the 1940s, photography had become a hallmark of the magazine, and we'd published a handful of scenic portfolios. Most, however, were black and white. The first big shift to color came in December 1940, when we ran a piece titled Colorful Arizona: An Adventure in Beauty . It set a standard we've used as a baseline ever since. In his column that month, Editor Raymond Carlson wrote: "Christmas in Arizona has two meanings. The white Christmas of the high mountains and the sunny Christmas of the desert. Therefore, as is proper, we have tried to show both of these blessed areas of our state in the photography of Norman Rhoads Garrett, Max Kegley, Josef Muench, a New Yorker named Andre de Dienes, and others."

26. Ted DeGrazia FEBRUARY 1941

Of all the contributors to Arizona Highways, no one fills our mailbag like Ted DeGrazia. That's because his artwork was ubiquitous in the 1960s and '70s. Like microwaves, tube socks and vinyl records, his artworkfound its way into millions of homes in dozens of countries, exposing baby boomers — and their children and grandchildren — to something they'd never forget. He made his debut in our magazine in February 1941. A few years later, in March 1949, Editor Raymond Carlson would reintroduce the artist to our readers: “We haveknown Ted for many years and we know him to be a desperately serious artist. Personally, we are rooting for Ted.” Turns out, we did more than just root. In all, Mr. DeGrazia's work has appeared in more than 70 issues of Arizona Highways. And this month, he joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

27. Maynard Dixon FEBRUARY 1942

Thomas Moran, Gunnar Widforss, Ed Mell ... some of the country's most renowned artists have offered their visual interpretations of the Arizona landscape. Among that elite group is Maynard Dixon, who is considered the master painter of the Southwest. After he moved to Arizona, our editor, Raymond Carlson, lured him into the magazine. He made his debut in February 1942 with a story he wrote and illustrated, titled Arizona in 1900, which reflects on his first visit to our state: "Arizona, the magic name of a land bright and mysterious, of sun and sand, of tragedy and stark endeavor. So long had I dreamed of it that when I came there it was not strange to me. Its sun was my sun, its ground my ground." There would be many more bylines, including a beautiful portfolio in September 1945."What impresses me about Maynard Dixon is his structure, his total honesty and his understanding of the power of it," fellow artist Ed Mell said. "Before him, I don't think anybody touched on that."

28. A Letter to Hirohito MARCH 1942

In 1942, in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor and at the height of World War II, our editor, Raymond Carlson, used his pulpit for communicating with Japan's Emperor Hirohito. The letter fills three columns and takes up a full page. It begins: "Today several things happened around our office that made us think of you, and so we thought it would be a nice time to sit down and write you a letter. We've never had the pleasure of meeting you personally, although we've seen you in the newsreels and your picture in the papers. You seem to be a sad, dumb-looking little guy on a white horse, but of late you've become a somebody because you've turned your boys loose to mess things up in the Pacific. Mr. Hirohito, just tell your boys to have their fun while they can, because trouble is coming. Yes, sir, Mr. Hirohito, trouble is coming." He would write a second letter, just as pointed, three months later.

29. Charles Franklin Parker DECEMBER 1942

Charles Franklin Parker made his debut in September 1941 with a short piece about a Chinese immigrant from Prescott who returned to his native home to become one of the great merchant princes of China. And in May 1942, we published an excerpt of his book Peace Unto You. His first in-depth piece, in December 1942, is a profile of the cowboy poet Badger Clark, an Arizonan who epitomized the genre. The story begins: "I sat one evening at a camp fire high in a mountain retreat and heard the man, who taught me to love and understand the Great West, read poetry. It was unlike the poetry that I had read or ever heard. It was strong poetry full of robustness and yet sanely reverent. It was a man's poetry and yet held the softness and tranquility of a mother's lullaby." Parker would go on to write dozens of stories for us, some in tandem with his daughter, Kitty Jo Parker Nelson.

30. This Land I Love DECEMBER 1942

Although we're best known for our photography, we've also featured some wonderful writers in our 100 years, including Joyce Rockwood, Jonreed Lauritzen, Nancy Newhall,Charles Bowden and Terry Tempest Williams. Another was Editor Raymond Carlson. He was an exemplar of the literary medium, and his opus was an essay titled This Land I Love. It begins: “This land I love — this small corner of America — holds its broad shoulders firm and strong against the sky. Its personality is as varied as its people. Deserts are tossed against mountains. Canyons cut deep into the solid rock of plateaus. Rocky peaks, which should have perished long ago against the onslaughts of time and the weather, point bravely at the endless clouds drifting by. The country rolls and tosses and pitches, the unwavering miles flowing out in cosmic poetry. A spendthrift, it is lavish in space and distance and its bigness is overpowering, formidable. To people accustomed to country built on a smaller plan, this land in its very bigness is an awesome thing.”

31. Arizona Highways Gets a Call From the Pentagon JUNE 1943

In our June 1943 issue, at the height of World War II, we published a piece titled The Navajo Indian at War. It was a summary of the Navajos’ many contributions to the war effort. The story was written by a government official named James M. Stewart, who was the superintendent for the Navajo Indian Service in Window Rock. About halfway into the piece, he spotlights the top-secret work of the Navajo Code Talkers: “The U.S. Marine Corps has organized a special Navajo signal unit for combat communication service,” he writes. “A platoon of thirty Navajos was recruited in the spring of 1942. Its members were trained in signal work using the Navajo language as a code.” J.P. Sullivan, the commanding officer of the Field Signal Battalion Training Center, obtained a copy of our magazine and sent it to General Alexander A. Vandegrift. After a lengthy investigation, the Pentagon was unable to identify who was responsible for the breach of security, and the matter was closed. A few months after publishing that information, Raymond Carlson, a patriot to the core, stepped down as our editor and joined the U.S. Army.

32. Flattering Letter SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 1943

Because of paper rationing during World War II, we combined our September and October issues in 1943. “We are not trying to shortchange our customers,” Editor Raymond Carlson wrote, “but in order to come within our paper quota, greatly reduced as you know, we are combining two issues this month.” A few weeks before that, we got a letter to the editor from Ansel Adams. Like finding a Buffalo nickel in your grandmother's davenport, that would have caused quite a stir in the mailroom. The letter reads, in part: “I have intended for a long time to write you and express my sincere admiration for the job you are doing with Arizona Highways. My admiration is augmented by the fact that the quality of the magazine has not been reduced during the war period — in fact, in some ways, it has seemed to me to have actually improved. ... Your magazine conveys a true impression of Land and People, and should serve as a model for all publications of this type. I am very happy to be on your mailing list!”

33. Ray Manley OCTOBER 1944

As a young man in the 1930s, Ray Manley dreamed of “capturing a few nature photographs worthy of being printed” in a fledgling magazine called Arizona Highways. “In 1939,” he later told us, “I bought my first 10-sheet box of Kodachrome. I studied my subjects well before exposing that film because a dollar a sheet was a lot of money to pay for film in those days.” Indeed. When you adjust for inflation, that's about $225 for 10 photographs. Nevertheless, the investment paid off. Of those 10 shots, three became covers for us, including his debut — a photograph of the San Francisco Peaks that ran on the back cover of our December 1944 issue. For Mr. Manley, the covers were just the beginning. He would go on to become one of our legendary photographers, as well as a regular contributor to The Saturday Evening Post, Life and National Geographic. This month, he joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

34. Ansel Adams MARCH 1946

In March 1946, Ansel Adams made his debut in Arizona Highways. By that time, he was already considered one of the world’s great landscape photographers. However, despite his reputation as the master of black-and-white composition, his first photograph in the magazine was a two-page color spread of Monument Valley. It was the first, but not the last. Over the years, Editor Raymond Carlson and Mr. Adams developed a deep friendship and a mutually beneficial professional relationship. And whenever the photographer would pass through Phoenix, he’d stop by the magazine. During one of those visits, he suggested that Arizona Highways purchase a large collection of his photographs — at a good price — to be used whenever. The bill for that collection, which turned out to be 150 photographs, was $1,500 — 10 bucks apiece. Today, $10 will buy you a couple of Double Whoppers. This month, Mr. Adams joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

35. An Interesting Letter APRIL 1946

“My congratulations on your last issue,” a seemingly random letter from 1946 begins. “It tops everything you have ever gotten out. I may avail myself of the opportunity on my national broadcast to recommend Arizona to tourists this summer. I would greatly appreciate it if you could obtain and send to me the various legends of the Hassayampa Waters. I have a recollection of many stories from my boyhood, but they are rather confused now.” The letter was signed: “Fiorello La Guardia, New York, N.Y.” Turns out, the legendary mayor and airport namesake lived in Arizona until he was 16. After that, he moved to Italy with his family, and later New York. In response to the letter, our editor wrote: “We’re always grateful for compliments, but doubly so when they come from native-born Arizonans like Fiorello La Guardia. All the legends of the Hassayampa have been sent to Mr. La Guardia, as well as a canteen of water from the river. According to legend, if you drink the waters of the Hassayampa, you will never tell the truth again. Be warned, Mr. La Guardia, be warned.”

36. Blessed Are the Meek DECEMBER 1946

The Navajo people and their homeland have appeared on many of our covers since 1925. The most famous cover was published in December 1946. “Ray asked me to photograph some Navajos in the snow, tending their sheep,” Barry Goldwater said in reference to our longtime editor, Raymond Carlson. “This was in late February 1946, and I told him he was out of his head, that it never snowed on the reservation in springtime. So I said I’d try to get something the next year. But, as it happened, I was up at the trading post [Rainbow Lodge] near Navajo Mountain the next week, and when I woke up one morning, there was about 2 feet of snow all over everything. So I ran down the road about 3 miles and got my picture. Just what he wanted.” Of all the milestones in this magazine’s storied history, that issue is among the most significant. In addition to having Mr. Goldwater’s beautiful photograph on the cover, it was North America’s first-ever all-color issue of a nationally circulated consumer magazine. We beat National Geographic, Life, Look, Vogue, The Saturday Evening Post ... we beat them all.

37. Allen C. Reed JULY 1949

“Allen Reed is an editor’s dream,” Tom Cooper, our eighth editor, wrote in the 1970s. “He can write, photograph and illustrate. Better yet, he does all of these things with expertise. He’s one of those special people you can turn loose with a story idea and he will deliver a complete package.” After attending art school in Los Angeles and being part-owner of an advertising firm there, Mr. Reed packed up and moved to Arizona. He quickly made a name for himself as a freelancer, and in July 1949, he made his debut in Arizona Highways. It was a story titled Peach Harvest in Supailand. “The twinkling fires of the Havasupais seem to be reflections of the stars,” he wrote. “A timeless moment to hesitate, as though on a cloud enveloped above and below by the heavens.” In the years that followed, he wrote and photographed more than 50 features for us. This month, he joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

38. J.B. Priestley DECEMBER 1949

In its March 1937 issue, Harper's Magazine excerpted a book titled Midnight on the Desert, an autobiographical account of J.B. Priestley's time in Wickenburg. More than a decade later, our editor convinced the eminent English novelist and essayist to write a piece for us. An excerpt: “It is nowmore than eleven years since I last saw Arizona. This is a long time, much too long. And nobody must imagine that the Priestley family have fallen out of love with Arizona. The desert crept into all our hearts. Every month we take a peep or two through the tantalising little windows of Arizona Highways, and ... we begin to remember again. What do we remember? Well, here I shall speak for myself. My mind returns first to the Remuda Ranch at Wickenburg, where we stayed so long.” It was the only piece he ever wrote for us, but we'll take it.

39. Brave Poppy DECEMBER 1949

Esther Henderson, who could photograph anything, especially loved shooting wildflowers. “One of the best poppy-blooming areas was near Bowie,” she said, “where they cascaded down the hillsides like the Sherwin-Williams paint ad that said, 'We Cover the Earth.” In 1942, she went there with her husband, photographer Chuck Abbott, but it wasn't what she was expecting. “We found that much less rainfall had produced only scattered plants in the caked mud of a dry lake,” she said. “We had come so far and had such high hopes that I was reluctant to leave without something. And so, since I couldn't photograph an acre of poppies, I took a picture of just one growing out of a mud crack. I called it the Brave Poppy , and it was my, and some others', favorite picture — a picture with a message.” Among those who loved it was longtime editor Raymond Carlson, who singled it out as his favorite among the tens of thousands of transparencies he'd seen in his time at the magazine.

40. Sylvia Lewis Kinney MARCH 1950

Poetry has been a constant in Arizona Highways since our second issue. One of the most frequent midcentury contributors was Sylvia Lewis Kinney, who made her debut in March 1950 with a poem titled Westbound. About the poet, our editor, Raymond Carlson, wrote, “With all the sombre and terrifying events greeting us each morning in our daily newspaper, it is reassuring to know there is someone who smiles occasionally, pokes a gentle finger at our foibles, and shares with us a glimpse into her own wonderful world.”

41. William O. Douglas APRIL 1951

In April 1951, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas wrote a piece for us titled Baboquivari. In his column, Editor Raymond Carlson offered some background: “A distinguished American, William O. Douglas, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, has known many mountains in many lands. In this issue he tells us of Baboquivari Peak and his pleasure in climbing it. Mr. Douglas came to Arizona several winters ago to recover his health after being seriously injured in a mountain accident in the Northwest. You can't keep a good mountain man down; so, when he was able to do so, he decided to accept the challenge of Baboquivari and found the subject worth the effort."

42. Life and Time SEPTEMBER 1951

In the fall of 1951, Arizona Highways got the attention of the editors of Life and Time. They took notice because we'd been picked up by the Independent News Co. of New York. At the time, it was one of the largest national and international magazine distributors in the country. To that point, we'd been a small mom-and-pop publication with limited circulation. Then, just like that, our magazine was available on newsstands in London, Tokyo and Midtown Manhattan. Both Life and Time ran feature stories, which made our team proud. So much so that we ordered a truckload of copies.

43. Gallery of Western Paintings NOVEMBER 1951

Like at National Geographic, Time and Life, books have been a part of our portfolio for a long time. The first book associated with the magazine, through our editor, is titled Gallery of Western Paintings. In November 1951, we ran a promo from the publisher: "McGraw-Hill, one of the nation's leading book publishers, announces the publication of Gallery of Western Paintings, edited by Raymond Carlson. This superb art book presents striking color reproductions of paintings by foremost Western artists — Remington, Russell, Leigh, Dixon, Bartlett, Delano, Swinnerton and Strang. It also contains sketches by Ross Santee. The features chosen in this book originally appeared in Arizona Highways. The editor of the book, who is also editor of this publication, has written informal essays treating with each of the artists. The book is now on sale in leading bookstores throughout the world or can be ordered direct from Arizona Highways, Phoenix, Arizona. The price is $8.50."

44. Laura Gilpin DECEMBER 1952

On May 26, 1952, our editor sent a letter to photographer Laura Gilpin. "We have carefully gone through all of your Indian material," he wrote. "I am very sorry that we did not have it sooner, because some of your Navajo Fair material is much better than the material we finally selected for a feature on the Navajo Fair and which has been in the hands of the printers for about four months. Of the group of material that you have sent us, we would like to hold the transparency of the Navajo lady in the covered wagon and also the Navajo girl displaying a prize-winning old-time dress at the Navajo Fair. We will probably not have occasion to use these until next spring, but would like to hold them in our file to have them on hand. Your material is grand — I will be very proud when we have you as a regular contributor to our publication." He didn't waste any time. In December of that year, Ms. Gilpin made her debut in Arizona Highways with two images. One was an action shot of wild horses,and the other was a landscape photograph from the Navajo Nation, the place where she would distinguish herself as one of our country's great portrait photographers.

45. Larry Toschik JANUARY 1953

Larry Toschik made his artistic debut in Arizona Highways in 1953 with a beautiful map showcasing the state's best places to go bass fishing. In addition to his talent as a fine artist, he was an accomplished graphic artist. “He designed the layouts for the magazine each month,” said his son, Tom. “I remember riding over to the magazine offices with him sometimes as he delivered his work to Ray Carlson.” Over the next two decades, we would publish dozens of Mr. Toschik's detailed maps. This month, he joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

46. Wimbledon Tickets SEPTEMBER 1953

We could fill volumes of books with the interesting letters we've gotten over the years. One of the best came in 1953 from Lieutenant Colonel Winn F. Zeller of the U.S. Air Force. It read: “In the Personal Column of the London Times (Saturday, May 23, 1953), the following item appeared: Wimbledon-Centre Court Seat offered final Saturday to American in exchange subscription Arizona Highways 1954.” The classified ad then included a mailing address. In response, our editor wrote: “Because of Col. Zeller's thoughtfulness we were happy to see the Personal item in which some interested Englishman was willing to trade two fine seats at the great tennis tournament for our publication. We have written to [the ticket holder's address]. If this offer remains unanswered by some American reader of The Times, we will see that our publication will be sent as a courtesy.”

47. The Oasis NOVEMBER 1953

The movie version of Oklahoma! was filmed in the grasslands of Southern Arizona. And the windmill that was built for the movie set was inspired by a Peter Hurd painting that appeared on our cover in November 1953. “The subject is out of my own childhood when, like many another Southwestern boys, I learned to swim in a stock tank,” Mr. Hurd said. The cover painting, titled The Oasis, is beautiful. And so are the 13 paintings inside. “We feel that the reproductions we have this month of his works speak for themselves,” Editor Raymond Carlson wrote. “They deal with simple things, people, scenes, moods. He has recorded everyday living around him with love and understanding, a life that he has known not as an interested spectator but a life of which he has been a part since his birth.”

48. Color Classics MAY 1954

In the 1950s, under the leadership of our business manager, Jim Stevens, we started expanding our product line beyond the magazine. The first big endeavor was something we called “Color Classics,” and it debuted in May 1954: “We are pleased to announce that 35 mm color slides in 2" x 2" mounts, made from original color photographs published in Arizona Highways , are now available. This announcement will please the many hundreds of our readers who have requested that such slides be issued. Our first 100 Color Classics cover some of the most popular subjects published herein. Additional subjects will be announced in our June issue. Our price schedule is as follows: 1 to 15 slides, 40¢ each; 16 to 49 slides, 35¢ each; in orders of 50 slides or more, 3 for $1.00. Orders should be sent to Arizona Highways, Phoenix, Arizona. Slides should be ordered only by numbers listed below.”

49. David Muench JANUARY 1955

Like Mozart and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, David Muench was born to become a superlative, but no one expected it so quickly. Or so easily. Not even his father, the legendary photographer Josef Muench, who'd invited his teenage son to tag along on a trip to Arizona Highways in the early 1950s. They were there to see Raymond Carlson, the editor who turned no-names into household names, as Harold Ross had done with E.B. White and James Thurber. After poring over what might have been hundreds of 4x5 transparencies made by the elder Muench, Mr. Carlson turned to the son. “As soon as you make a good picture, I'll publish it,” he said. And so, he did. “He put one on the cover from that very first visit,” Mr. Muench said. The cover. He got the back cover, too. It would be impossible to single out the best photographer in the history of the magazine. To name the patriarch, however, is easy. His name is David Muench, who is now in his eighth decade of sharing his brilliant work with us. This month, he joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

50. Oklahoma! APRIL 1955

In 1953, Allen C. Reed was on assignment for Arizona Highways in Southern Arizona to document the unlikely filming of a movie that many people — mostly Okies — thought should have been shot where it was set. But that was't an option. “The decision to film Oklahoma! in Arizona was not a difficult one,” film historian John B. La Due III said. “Oklahoma in 1954 did not look like the Oklahoma of 1854, but parts of Arizona did.” Arthur Hornblow, the producer, agreed. “We had three crews roaming around Oklahoma and surrounding states, looking for an ideal location," he said. "Their reports were discouraging. Oklahoma today isn't like Oklahoma of 1905. One day while waiting in my dentist's reception room, I idly picked up the magazine on top, Arizona Highways. I took one look at the cover — a scene between Nogales and Tucson — and rushed to a phone. I called the studio and told them to order our location crews to come home."

51. Not Welcome in East Germany MAY 1955

In 1965, Arizona Highways would be blacklisted in the Soviet Union. We should have seen it coming, based on a letter we'd gotten from Bella Hubbard of Tucson 10 years earlier, in May 1955: "For several years I have been sending a subscription to a friend in the East Zone, Germany, and he reported receiving his copies regularly. He and his friends in this little town behind the Iron Curtain enjoyed the beautiful scenes and descriptions of our wonderful state of Arizona and it made them forget their troubles. Even the village postmaster would sometimes hold back delivery of copies for a day so that he also could look at the pictures. Lacking any references to politics or ideologies, Arizona Highways was doing, nevertheless, too good a job in promoting friendliness and international goodwill in areas where such instincts are not wanted by the Kremlin rulers. So, one day, about a year ago, Arizona Highways was placed on the 'verboten' list, and all of his copies were confiscated and probably burned by the censors."

52. Subscription Price AUGUST 1955

"In early May," our editor wrote in August 1955, "this publication found a wolf on the doorstep, in the shape of increasing costs — postage, paper, social security and so on. We asked a cross-section of our readership their opinion: accept advertising (note Reader's Digest), cheapen the magazine, or increase the price from $3.00 to $3.50. The response was gratifying and truly warmed the hearts of all of us." That note was followed by a handful of the thousands of letters we received from the cross-section that was queried. One of the letters was sent by Gertrude E. Merryman of San Francisco. "Arizona Highways is a delightful magazine," she wrote, "informative and beautiful. The pleasure it affords is worth more than the subscription price."

53. National Awards JANUARY 1956

In the same way that we started piling up subscribers in the 1950s, we also started gathering awards from national organizations. "This friendly, Western family journal has been given two more national awards," our editor wrote in January 1956. "Our photography award comes from the Photographers' Association of America and reads: 'Arizona Highways: for the consistent use of color in the magazine to illustrate and interpret the natural beauties of the State of Arizona, and for seeking high professional talent to produce, under sympathetic direction, color photographs for this purpose.' Our history award comes from the American Association for State & Local History and reads: 'Arizona Highways: for its constant attention to Arizona history, which it writes well and illustrates beautifully.' Needless to say, we are proud to be so honored and we hope these pages will always be worthy enough to merit such consideration.

54. Arizona Highways Products JANUARY 1957

In 1957, we continued to expand our product line: “To our many new acquaintances who have joined us this year,” an announcement in our January 1957 issue read, “we are proud to offer these Arizona Highways by-products as gift suggestions we believe you will be proud to give to your very special friends. These gifts, as always, uphold the high standard of quality maintained by Arizona Highways. If we may be of assistance to you on any gift occasion, we will be most happy to give prompt and proper attention to your order.” Among the new products were bound volumes, single-issue binders and framed reproductions. The pitch for the latter reads: “Available by popular demand, color reproductions that have appeared in Arizona Highways. These four selections are matted and mounted under glass in attractive blond wood frames.”

55. Los Niños NOVEMBER 1957

Ted DeGrazia made many memorable paintings. His most famous, Los Niños, made its worldwide debut in our November 1957 issue. At some point in the subsequent months, that issue found its way to the United Nations. Then, in September 1960, we got a letter. It was signed, “Mrs. Howard Edmunds, Art Director, UNICEF Greeting Card Fund, United Nations, New York.” “As you know,” her letter begins, “the UNICEF Greeting Card Fund has been fortunate in receiving permission to reproduce as a greeting card this year a design which appeared in Arizona Highways. We are grateful to you for releasing the reproduction rights, and to the artist, Mr. Ettore (Ted) DeGrazia, for contributing his lovely design, Los Niños .” The dancing children in the painting, the artist said, “are from different places, and they're all doing very well together.” By the time the holiday season was over in 1960, millions of Los Niños cards were sold around the globe, making Mr. DeGrazia, at the time, the most reproduced artist in the world.

56. The Sedona Issue MAY 1959

You wouldn't know it by looking around today, but in 1959, Sedona was still a small town. In May of that year, we published our first-ever issue fully dedicated to one of our very favorite places. “Our concern and our pleasure this issue,” Editor Raymond Carlson wrote, “is to devote our pages to the most radiant of all the Red Rock areas in this state — or any state, for that matter — the Red Rock Country of Sedona and Oak Creek Canyon. Many travelers with knowledge of the grandeur of Grand Canyon, the massiveness of Zion, and the spired resplendence of Bryce, consider the Red Rock Country of which we speak the most radiant of all, with an intimacy and warmth not possessed by the others.” The photos in that issue offer a wonderful glimpse at how it used to be. Since then, so much has changed, which would surprise our editor, who ended his column with this: “The country is a-building up, but the country is so big it'll never get too crowded or lose its neighborliness and friendliness.” At least he was right about the second part.

57. Children's Books NOVEMBER 1961

By the early 1960s, we'd mastered the art of combining ink and paper to make magazines, and we figured it was time to try our hand at making books. So, in our November 1961 issue, we unveiled our first attempt. “Arizona Highways has always had a special meaning for its readers,” a story written by our book publisher in Indianapolis begins. “In its pages one finds spectacular beauty and informative reading, presented in an arresting manner. The staff of the David-Stewart Publishing Company, responding to this unusual material, is creating a special series of children’s books based on articles which have appeared in Arizona Highways and using the extraordinarily beautiful pictures for which the magazine has become justly famous. This series will be titled Nature-Adventure Books.” The first four books in the series were Water and the Thirsty Land , Nature’s Lumberjack, Wapiti: King of the Woodland, and Our Indian Heritage – Arts That Live Today.

58. Ranch Wife SEPTEMBER 1962

Not our writer, our editor or anyone else could have imagined how beloved a first-person narrative about ranching would become. But readers loved it, including Mrs. Samuel Nelson Pickard of Neenah, Wisconsin: “ Ranch Wife by Jo Jeffers in the last September’s issue is superb, and the illustrations by Ross Santee are delightful, as his things always are. When I’m reincarnated I want to be a ranch wife!” That was just one of many letters. “Judging from the response of our readers,” Editor Raymond Carlson wrote, “we have never published an article [that was] received with such enthusiasm. We are proud to inform our readers that Doubleday & Company, one of America’s most distinguished publishing firms, has approached Mrs. Jeffers to do a book on her life as a ranch wife. We’ll keep you informed of developments.” The book was released in the fall of 1964 and was just as popular as our magazine story.

59. Back Home Again JULY 1963

In 1950, the W.A. Krueger Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, won the bid to produce the color pages of our magazine. Thirteen years later, our bond would grow even stronger. “Apparently,” Editor Raymond Carlson wrote, “the W.A. Krueger Co. officials have been reading our magazine and were captured by its siren’s lure, because they became deeply interested in Arizona and Arizona’s future. So much so, in fact, they purchased control of the Tyler Printing Company, a long-established Phoenix printing firm, and brought big-league printing to Phoenix. Result: a handsome new building and some of the finest printing equipment manufactured in America today. Added result: this publication (previously printed out of the state, color in Milwaukee, black and white pages in Los Angeles) has come home to stay and, we feel, it will be bigger and more colorful than ever before." That issue, which featured Ray Manley photographs on the front and back covers, was the first to be fully printed in Arizona since 1939.

60. Tim Kelly NOVEMBER 1963

In our long history, only one contributor was ever introduced to our readers as a 30-year-old bachelor. In Playbill, Tim Kelly was described as “the mostpublished playwright in America,” a Yale graduate who moved to Phoenix and eventually wrote more than 300 comedies, dramas, one-acts, mysteries, melodramas, children’s shows and musicals. His first piece for us was a profile of renowned Scottsdale artist Philip C. Curtis. “He takes a detached view of life,” the bachelor wrote, “observing and studying those things that attract his imagination, and he has no hesitation in frankly stating that he has slight interest in the work of his contemporaries. His creations are of and by himself, detached to such an extent that one finds it not difficult to imagine that Curtis came upon his house on the Scottsdale desert, found it stocked with paint, canvas, brushes and assorted supplies, and thus began to paint.” Tim Kelly would become one of our editor’s favorites, and the bylines quickly piled up.

61. Blacklisted in the Soviet Union MAY 1965

On February 7, 1965, The New York Times broke the news and put us in the international spotlight. According to the Times, Soviet officials had determined that Arizona Highways was “ideologically subversive” and that it “propagandized the American way of life.” In addition, we were considered “provocative literature clearly intended to conduct hostile propaganda among the Soviet people.” And so, we were blacklisted. “Tsk! Tsk! Ivan!,” our editor, Raymond Carlson, wrote in response in our May 1965 issue. “Things have changed since Ol’ Joe Stalin sat in the driver’s seat in the Kremlin. Ol’ Joe was on our mailing list for years (with no repercussions) and his daughter was a self-paid subscriber.” In addition to the hundreds of letters we received from supportive readers around the world, business leaders and politicians across the country came to our defense. When asked about the magazine’s moment in the international spotlight, Mr. Carlson was humble. “It just goes to show that our little magazine gets around,” he said. “Frankly, I’m delighted that the Communists have placed us in the same league as Robin Hood and Disneyland.”

62. The Sound Classic OCTOBER 1965

Of all the new products we released in the 1960s, the most unique was the Arizona Highways Sound Classic. Here’s how it was billed: “Here is an audio-visual adventure for those who love beauty. From our own vast color file on Grand Canyon, we have selected 70 Color Classic Slides that best portray the mighty canyon in all its moods, at all times of the day, during all the seasons of the year. Any 35 mm projector and a record player with 331/3 rpm is all that is required for the full enjoyment of this presentation. One side of the record is provided with 'beep' signals denoting slide changes, when all slides are arranged in proper sequence. Side 2 of the disc is without 'beeps' and is in itself an interesting and exciting recorded description of the Grand Canyon." The cost was $22.50, which included the album and 70 slides. Although it was intended to be the first in a series, there was never a sequel.

63. Scenic Calendars NOVEMBER 1965

In January 1966, Tennis Imes of Santa Monica, California, sent a letter about our colorful wall calendar — it was one of many letters we'd gotten in response to our thriving newborn. "Calls are coming in," he wrote, "from friends and family thanking us for the beautiful calendars we used this year as holiday gifts. We believe that people will give this new venture a boost each year." On our list of milestones, one of the most important was the debut of our calendars, which were promoted in a house ad in our November 1965 issue. Among the many selling points were "12 selective Arizona scenes in full color," "100 lb. Lithofect Suede White" paper and the promise that our calendar would be "a dignified and useful decorative addition for any office." At the time, our team wasn't sure if it would resonate. "If it is well received," the ad concluded, "we hope to have a new calendar available for each and every following year." Turns out, it was very well received. Since then, we've sold millions of calendars. Millions. And the number keeps climbing. Like folded road maps and hardback books, our calendars are comfortable anachronisms in the wireless age of virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

64. Conservation Service Award MAY 1966

In May 1966, we published a letter from Daniel B. Beard, the regional director of the National Park Service, who was commending us for winning the Conservation Service Award from the U.S. Department of the Interior. In addition, our editor, Raymond Carlson, received a personal letter from Interior Secretary Stewart Udall. "It is a great personal pleasure for me to commend you for the enduring contributions you have made to conservation over the years through the handsome pages of your Arizona Highways," he wrote. "By means of your magnificent photographs and carefully selected articles, you have stimulated a greater appreciation of nature in the minds and hearts of readers in the many parts of the world to which your magazine is sent. In this gentle and pleasant way, you have done much to create a widespread desire to preserve the things that should be preserved."

65. Letter From Bil Keane SEPTEMBER 1966

One day in 1966, one of the most successful cartoonists in the world, and one of the nicest people you could ever meet, sent us a letter: "The Keane family and, judging from the mail we've received, many Family Circus and Channel Chuckles readers were delighted with The Wonderful World of Bil Keane in the July [1966] issue. I would like to thank you for detouring Arizona Highways into our home and around my drawing board; writer Blake Brophy for putting all those nice words together so accurately; photographer Herb McLaughlin for making us look reasonably photogenic without shattering a lens; and Art Editor George Avey for fitting us so unobtrusively into the pages of such a beautiful magazine. My own world is more wonderful because of it."

66. The Art of Larry Toschik MARCH 1967

Although Larry Toschik had been designing layouts for us for many years, and creating a string of beautiful maps, his fine art had never been in the spotlight. That changed in March 1967, when we featured eight of his exquisite paintings in color and another 14 in black and white. They were included in a story titled Larry Toschik's Wonderful World of Birds, and the response was overwhelming. Almost overnight, Mr. Toschik went from obscurity to international recognition as one of the world's great wildlife artists. "When the magazine decided to publish an article written by my dad," his son Tom said, "along with some of his paintings, none of us could have envisioned the transformation it would bring to our lives. Arizona Highways was literally bread and butter for our family through the '50s and '60s."

67. Letter From Vietnam AUGUST 1967

In many ways, every letter we get from a reader is a milestone. And a validation. People who take the time to write, even when they disagree with something we've done, are to be treasured. Because of the circumstances, this particular letter was especially valuable: "Wherever our duties as soldiers take us, Arizona Highways always seems to reach us. We may be in the heat of battle or flying over the vast jungles of Vietnam. The magazine may be slightly worn and weather-beaten, but we manage to pass it on from one GI to another. It is always a great pleasure to read and admire scenic pictures of our beautiful state of Arizona. This brings back wonderful memories of one's life in Arizona. It also encourages us to fight harder for our country. Many thanks to Arizona Highways for bringing home to us, in this so distant land." The letter was signed: "CW3 Clarence D. Gatewood (Navajo), Qui Nhon, Vietnam."

68. My Southwest JANUARY 1968

The average feature story in our magazine runs for approximately six pages. In January 1968, Esther Henderson's piece, My Southwest, ran for 28 pages. Plus, she got the front and back covers. And the inside front and inside back covers. That's 32 pages, but even 320 pages wouldn't have been enough to showcase her extensive portfolio. "We always contended she is one of the best," Editor Raymond Carlson wrote. "In these pages this month, she is much with us, giving us intimate views of what she calls My Southwest . Hers is a treasure to share and enjoy." For her part, Ms. Henderson summed up her work this way: "Notwithstanding many changes, there is still the blue distance that stirs the imagination; the horizon with its landmarks always beckoning; the native populations that give it life and color; the Western winds eternally creating new forms. What effrontery leads me to suppose that I can even begin to capture these values on a sheet of film? I can suggest, and that is all.”

69. “Radiantly Colorful Christmas Issue” DECEMBER 1968

In November 1968, Editor Raymond Carlson teed up our December issue. “Next month,” he wrote, “we present what we believe will be the most radiantly colorful Christmas issue we have ever produced.” The issue certainly delivered. Including the covers, the issue featured 68 four-color photographs by a who’s who of contributors: Josef Muench, David Muench, Bob Bradshaw, Wayne Davis, Willis Peterson, Barry Goldwater, Darwin Van Campen, Dick Dietrich, Ray Manley and, as always, Esther Henderson. There aren’t many words in between all of those photos. Just four short essays about each of the seasons. Plus an essay about the speed of light and, on the last page, a lovely poem titled Last Tree on the Lot.

70. “Fancy” Logo JANUARY 1969

There was no fanfare, but readers noticed nonetheless. “I have just finished reading your January issue,” Noni Alger of Kansas City, Missouri, wrote. “The saguaro theme was outstanding. However, having been in the advertising and publications business for many years, I kept returning in puzzlement to your signature or logotype on the front cover. It suddenly dawned on me the ‘Arizona Highways’ was an oil painting. Right? How fancy can you get!” In response, our editor wrote: “O Yep! You are right! Our logotype effect is from an oil painting created for us by our nice amigito, Ted DeGrazia, the artist who lives in Tucson. It is from one of thirty-six 3” x 5” paintings, oil on canvas, in which the artist, a tremendous colorist, swung a wild and inspired brush.” Fancy, indeed.

71. So Long, Mr. Carlson OCTOBER 1971

In terms of content, there’s nothing remarkable about our October 1971 issue. It lacks energy and cohesion. And it’s clear that the magic touch of Raymond Carlson had long since faded away, the result of an illness that forced him to conduct business from his sick bed at home. Most likely, Joe Stacey and George Avey were just happy to hit their deadlines. Still, it’s sad there wasn’t a formal farewell from our founding father, the visionary who made Arizona Highways, Arizona Highways. Nevertheless, this issue stands as a major milestone because it marks the end of an era. “As editor of a magazine which he transformed from the ‘Ugly Duckling’ of the publication field into a colorful ‘Bird of Paradise,’” Mr. Stacey, our seventh editor, wrote in our November 1971 issue, “he, more than any other person or agency, has done more for the state of Arizona than is possible to compute. No man has loved his work and his land more than Raymond Carlson, and in return, no Arizonan has received more universal honor, respect and love than Raymond Carlson.”

72. Goodbye, Mr. Avey NOVEMBER 1972

A year after the retirement of Raymond Carlson, we lost another of our founding fathers, a man without whom this magazine wouldn't have become what it became. “At the risk of being labeled 'iconoclast,'” Editor Joe Stacey wrote in a farewell tribute, “we must state that George Avey has never been accorded the recognition he deserves in the evolution and development of this magazine's prestigious status. Since 1938 through 1972, George Avey was the engineer and the builder who took Raymond Carlson's conceptual architecture and together they built the world's most beautiful magazine. George Avey was the quiet, soft-spoken, perfection-seeking dreamer who complemented the dynamic, outspoken, super-imaginative Carlson. From such polarity came the magnetic property internationally known as Arizona Highways. Too few of us know the degree of nobleness and sacredness he poured into even the simplest of everyday challenges.” When you factor in his early illustrations, beginning in 1935, he was an integral part of this magazine for 37 years.

73. The “Turquoise Issue” JANUARY 1974

If you were around in the fall of 1973, you might remember that Arab oil producers had cut off exports to the United States as a way of protesting American military support for Israel, which was at war with Egypt and Syria. The embargo led to inflated gas prices and long lines at gas stations. In addition to the inconvenience, the gas shortage crippled the tourism industry and compromised our mission, which is to help readers hit the road. In response to what was happening, Editor Joe Stacey went looking for something other than traditional travel journalism. And he foundit. Known today as the “turquoise issue,” our January 1974 edition is focused entirely on the history and culture of turquoise jewelry in the Southwest. And on the cover is a photograph of a bison skull covered with 9,000 carats of turquoise — it's still on display at the Ninibah Gallery in Sedona. The piece was never sold, despite many lucrative offers. The magazine, however, sold out. Over and over. Ultimately, we went back to the printer three times and sold more than a million copies — it remains the biggest-selling issue in the history of Arizona Highways .

74. 50th Anniversary APRIL 1975

Fifty years ago this month, we celebrated our golden anniversary. Then, like now, the special issue featured some of our favorite photographs and a bit of history — a nice trip downmemory lane. In his column, Editor Joe Stacey shared his thoughts on how we got there: “We think of our fifty years past as an almost incredible journey. Metaphorically it began on a raft and has touched home port on a world-cruising super ship. Working with the log-books and related records of the 50-year journey has brought us closer to maturity. We are constantly bombarded with queries relative to the how, what, where, why and when of the magazine's development, and we are asked to expound upon the reasons for its increasing popularity and success. Arizona Highways is what it is today because certain people, circumstances, events and places have been involved in a never before, never again voyage which started fifty years ago. Thanks be to God we are now at home port to celebrate a Golden Anniversary.”

75. Bicentennial Rug JULY 1976

In the months leading up to July 4, 1976, the editors of Arizona Highways met with the Navajo Tribal Council and suggested the idea of creating a “flag rug” in recognition of the American bicentennial. The rug, to be made by a Navajo weaver, would be auctioned off, with all proceeds going to a scholarship fund for Navajo Community College in Tsaile. Sadie Curtis, a noted weaver at Hubbell Trading Post in Ganado, accepted the task of weaving the spectacular rug; in addition, Mary Lee Begay, also a weaver at Hubbell, created an equally beautiful replica of the Arizona flag. The partnership was featured on the CBS Evening News, and through special arrangements made by U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater, the 4-by-6-foot American flag rug was raised over our nation's Capitol on Flag Day, June 14. On July 1, Arizona Governor Raul Castro flew both flags over the Arizona Capitol. Months later, in an auction conducted by film star Rex Allen on December 12, 1976, the American flag sold for $4,000. When adjusted for inflation, that would be $22,100 today. The Arizona flag sold for $3,750.

76. Thank You, Mr. Stevens FEBRUARY 1978

In 1978, the last of our three founding fathers decided it was time to hit the links. He'd earned the opportunity. Since 1946, when he began working in the mailroom, Jim Stevens took a beautiful product and sold it around the world. Under his leadership as business manager, Arizona Highways shattered the boundaries of what a regional magazine was supposed to be. As Editor Joe Stacey said, “Jim was the financial and distribution genius who made the magazine click." The numbers speak for themselves. When Mr. Stevens came on board, our paid circulation was 77,000. When he retired, it was more than 700,000 — an increase of more than 800 percent. As a result, our gross business volume increased as well, from $250,000 annually to more than $7 million when he left.

77. Walpi at Sunset SEPTEMBER 1980

When we published Jerry Jacka's exceptional photograph of Walpi village in June 1973, it didn't get much fanfare. "Sunset on the First Mesa village of Walpi," the caption read. "As it was in the beginning." But, wow, what a photo. "It was kind of my hallmark picture," Mr. Jacka said. "I contacted the village chief, and he allowed me to take the photograph. I wanted to set up a tripod, but he wouldn't let me — he was in the car with me — so I just leaned out the window and shot it. I was going to turn around and take another one, but that was it. I was surprised it turned out. I got lucky." A few years later, in September 1980, we ran the photo again, but it had a much different look. "The transparency was starting to fade," Mr. Jacka explained. "It was getting scratched, and I had a color negative made, but they screwed it up. In hindsight, though, it turned out incredible — it ended up with a golden hue." This month, Jerry Jacka joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

78. Jack and Chuck NOVEMBER 1982

Like that landmark day in Liverpool when Ivan Vaughan introduced his friend John to another friend namedPaul, the introduction of Jack and Chuck would rock our world. Marking superlatives among artists is subjective and never unanimous, but a case could be made that both Jack Dykinga and Charles Bowden rank at the very top of our list of photographers and writers. And they were even better together. "One time I saw Bowden out in the desert, bent over a wrecked car," Mr. Dykinga told me. "He was writing down the name of the tire. It was that kind of attention to detail that made him a perfect guy to work with. And he was always willing to change his copy to match the photos, and I would change photos to match the copy. That never happens, by the way. We had that kind of respect. Chuck was a very patient man. That's another thing... photographers sometimes drive writers crazy because of their patience.... We like to hang around. But Chuck would just sit down, pull out a book about the demise of the carrier pigeons, and read." They made their debut together in our November 1982 issue, with a story about Ramsey Canyon. This month, Jack Dykinga joins 14 others in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame.

79. All Color, All Issues JANUARY 1986

"Now We're All Color All Issues!" That was the cover line on our January 1986 issue. In his column, Don Dedera, our 10th editor, called it "an editor's dream." Although we'd been printing color pages since the 1930s and had published the first-ever all-color issue in North America in 1946, this was the beginning of a new era. "All color. All pages. From now on," Mr. Dedera wrote. "Or, at least we will have allcolor capability from beginning to end of America's premier state travel journal. Readers who over the years have grumped about our sixteen pages of black and white occasionally in the future may see a monotone photograph or a block of black type, but they will be there by choice." Today, that wouldn't be news. But four decades ago, it was a milestone for us.

80. Amateur Photo Contest APRIL 1987

In April 1987, we did something we'd never done before and haven't done since: We published images from a photo contest on the front and back covers of an issue. “A great success,” Merrill Windsor, our 11th editor, wrote in his column, “both in number of entries (a total of 1,648!) and in quality of images submitted, Arizona Highways' first Amateur Photography Contest concludes with the announcement in this issue of the winners and the publication of thirteen of their photographs.” Although he was wrong about it being the first amateur contest — that had happened five decades earlier, in June 1938 — he was rightfully proud of the submissions, especially Jennifer Hinshaw's photograph of a rustic cabin overlooking Oak Creek Canyon in Red Rock Country. In addition to winning the Youth category in the contest, Ms. Hinshawgot our front cover. Not bad for a young student at Northern Arizona University.

81. Cavalcade of History MAY 1987

History has always been a popular subject for us. And art and artists have played a major role in the evolution of Arizona Highways. In May 1987, we combined the two in what became the longest-running series in the history of the magazine. “This month,” Editor Merrill Windsor wrote, “we are pleased to introduce a new series of historical paintings by Bill Ahrendt that we call Arizona Highways Cavalcade. Each scene will reflect a moment sometime in thepast, somewhere in Arizona. Ahrendt has undertaken detailed research for each of the paintings in the Cavalcade of History series, and for each he is writing a brief introductory text.” The series, which ultimately included 16 installments between May 1987 and February 1990, ranks as one of the most beautiful collections of art in the history of Arizona Highways.

82. Hike of the Month OCTOBER 1990

There wasn't any fanfare, but in October 1990, we debuted a department that would become a reader favorite. The inaugural Hike of the Month featured the Summit Trail on Camelback Mountain, and it was written by WilliamHafford, who was a frequent contributor to Arizona Highways. With only a few exceptions for special issues, the Hike of the Month has anchored the back of the magazine ever since.

83. John Wayne Cover JANUARY 1992

We've had a few “scandals” in our first 100 years, including the “John Wayne cover” in January 1992. There were a couple of things that steamed our readers, both of which were related to what's generically referred to today as Photoshop. After several discussions among the editorial team, the decision was made to digitally remove a cigarette from John Wayne's hand. Bob Early, our 12th editor, was worried about the magazine being viewed as endorsing smoking if the cigarette were left in. We didn't get a flood of letters about that, but we definitely heard from readers about our decision to colorize the black-and-white photograph. “Your January issue is a disgrace to the name of your fine magazine,” said Susan Donnell Konkel of Portland, Maine. “A publication that has for so many years had consistently magnificent photography resorting to 'colored' black-and-white photos? I'm very happy my parents, who I believe were charter subscribers, are not alive to see this shabby issue.”

84. Christmas Tree Cover DECEMBER 1995

In December 1994, our cover featured a saguaro decorated with Christmas lights; it got mixed reviews. The next year, we took it up a notch and placed a Christmas tree, fully decorated, in the foreground of a cover photograph by LeRoy DeJolie. The caption reads: “In the spirit of the Christmas season, our roving tree stops at Monument Valley to showcase Arizona's scenic diversity.” The tradition would continue until December 2000. In that issue, our editor explained his intent: “Each year our cut tree has been places you'd least expect to find a Christmas tree. We've put them on sand dunes in Monument Valley, in slot canyons in Northern Arizona along the Utah border, beside prehistoric Indian ruins and mingled among giant stands of saguaros. The idea is to catch the reader's eye and to demonstrate visually that the spirit of Christmas exists everywhere.”

85. The “Swimsuit Issue” AUGUST 1999

Internally, we refer to it as the “swimsuit issue.” By Sports Illustrated standards, however, it was tame — even a Land's End catalog is more suggestive. Nonetheless, it caused an uproar. “Just A thought for you,” Bud Lofvenborg of Prescott, Arizona, wrote in a letter to the editor: “Please, let's keep Arizona Highways as beautiful as it has been for years and leave the girls in swimsuits off the front cover.” The “risqué” photograph appeared on newsstands only; subscribers got a G-rated cover, which featured the waterfall without the “prurient temptation.” In magazine jargon, what we did that month is called a “split cover” — one image for subscribers, another for newsstand buyers.

86. 75th Anniversary APRIL 2000

“With this issue,” Editor Bob Early wrote, “Arizona Highways celebrates its 75th birthday. The magazine has survived the Great Depression, the heyday of radio, World War II, the entertainment dominance of television, the demise of many great magazines and newspapers, the advent of computer games and the Internet, and all the other demands on our leisure time from Little League baseball to bowling leagues." He went on to point out his thoughts about the success of the magazine. It was a nice introduction, but there wasn't a lot of looking back in the issue. There was a short biography of our longtime art director, George Avey, along with a note that estimated our creative output to that point: "In the last 75 years the magazine has published more than 36 million words and more than 70,000 photographs." Otherwise, the issue was focused on the Grand Canyon and Arizona's other spectacular landscapes. It's a beautiful issue, one that's worthy of the milestone.

87. Ruth and David OCTOBER 2002

The success of this magazine can be attributed to a long list of dedicated men and women, both staffers and contributors, who shared their talents. At the top of that list are the founding fathers — Raymond Carlson, George Avey and Jim Stevens. In addition, we wouldn't have become an international sensation without the "Muench dynasty." It began with photographer Josef Muench and his wife, Joyce Rockwood, who was one of our greatest writers. Their son, David Muench, came next. And then David's son, Marc. Both of them were photographers. The dynasty grew even more in 2002, when David's wife, Ruth Rudner, became a contributor. The two of them were paired up for the first time on a story about Paria Canyon. "I've sought wildness and isolation in high mountains and ancient forests, on glaciers and tundra," Ms. Rudner wrote. "Deserts never occurred to me until I met my photographer husband, David Muench, who loves them." It was the first of many joint projects for Ruth and David, and their mix of words and photographs ranks among the best this magazine has ever published.

88. All 50 States DECEMBER 2002

Like choosing the best photograph in our archive, or the best sentence, selecting the best portfolio would be a rudderless deliberation, a subjective debate in which one judge singles out a stack of candidates, and another judge, another. Stack after stack after stack. Unanimous consent would be unlikely. Among our readers, however, there's one portfolio that rises to the top. Even today, nearly 25 later, we still get requests to reproduce our "50 states" portfolio. "In tribute to our United States," the piece begins, "we have expanded our December issue to 64 pages to present a very special portfolio, a very special holiday greeting card to all of our readers. This photo selection portrays the Arizona places that could be scenes from another state, including yours. All states — from Alaska to Florida and from Hawaii to Maine — are represented among these shots of Arizona vistas." Our readers were right. That was one of the best.

89. Once Upon a Day in Arizona OCTOBER 2006

As the editor of a magazine that's been around since 1925, the opportunity to do something that's never been done before is always a challenge. In 2006, Peter Aleshire, our 13th editor, oversaw a project that was unique to us. Titled Once Upon a Day in Arizona, it featured 50 writers and photographers scattered throughout Arizona on a single day — October 1, 2005. The goal for each participant was to capture the "quirky, inspiring, surprising diversity of the state." In all, we sent writer and photographer teams to 18 places. Among them, Kathleen Bryant and Dawn Kish visited a Hopi village; Tom Carpenter and Nick Berezenko went canoeing on the Mogollon Rim; and Kerrick James and Wynne Brown went looking for elk in the White Mountains. It was a wonderful package, and one of the images (right) is included on our list of the 100 best photographs to ever appear in Arizona Highways.

90. The Photography Issue SEPTEMBER 2008

When we first started putting together our first-ever "photography issue," we realized we needed to do something more than just create a magazine full of spectacular images — something we'd been doing every month for decades. So, we looked for ways to broaden our readers' knowledge of photography as well. We wrote about Brocken spectres and the pros and cons of digital and film (there was still a debate back then), and we did something different on the cover, too. Some readers thought it was blasphemous. Others loved it. “Rarely,” photographer Joel Grimes told us, “do I create a photograph without introducing artificial lighting to the scene. For me, the way the light strikes my subjects is paramount. To a so-called purist, using strobe lights in the landscape might be unthinkable, but I've never defined myself as a purist in the general sense.” In this issue, we also launched what would become our annual photo contest.

91. Annual Photo Contest SEPTEMBER 2009

It wasn't our first photo contest, but it became our first annual competition. We weren't sure what to expect when we launched it in 2008, because it was limited to digital entries only. In the end, though, we were flooded with entries, and the grand prize winner was an image titled Bronc Pick-Up by Bev Pettit. The caption read: “A rainy day made for a muddy arena at the Cowpuncher's Reunion Rodeo in Williams, but that didn't stop Bev Pettit of Skull Valley, Arizona, from taking her camera gear out to capture this peak moment. Catching the pickup man's facial expression as he struggles to control the bucking bronco makes this shot a winner. Lighting and weather conditions added to the difficulty factor.” Ms. Pettit went on to become a regular contributor, and we're still proud to feature her work today.

92. Thaddeus Montgomery NOVEMBER 2009

In the summer of 2009, I got an email from a soldier in Afghanistan — he was requesting some copies of our magazine. We sent a few hundred copies, and some other supplies. A few months later, Sergeant Thaddeus Montgomery sent a second letter, from his camp in the Korengal Valley. “I just want to thank you, Mr. Robert Stieve, and the rest of the folks there at Arizona Highways for the many packages that have begun to arrive here at COP Vegas from the editorial staff at your magazine. Originally, I had asked only for a few magazines that the soldiers here could enjoy thumbing through, and about a week ago boxes began to arrive with tons of good stuff in them. I can't thank you all enough for the kindness you have bestowed upon our platoon. If there is anything I can do in return, please don't hesitate to ask." I smiled at the modesty of the sergeant's last line. As if risking his life for our freedom wasn't enough. He and his platoon became extended family, and we were the beneficiary of the relationship. Sadly, Sergeant Montgomery never made it home. On January 20, 2010, our dear friend died somewhere in Afghanistan.

93. 50 Greatest Photographs DECEMBER 2011

This wasn't something we did lightly. It didn't happen overnight. And not everyone on our staff agreed with the final cut. But we did it. We took a stack of more than a thousand issues, pored over tens of thousands of images, and put together a portfolio of the 50 best photographs to ever appear in Arizona Highways. We had one criterion as we considered each shot: Is this one of the 50 best photographs ever published? That's not as easy as it seems. As editors, we're always looking for balance in the magazine. Our goal is to cover as much of the state as possible and make sure there's an equal mix of history, culture, lifestyle and landscape. Those instincts carried over to this portfolio: I think we need more portraits. There aren't any photos of Aravaipa Canyon. We should have a few more black-and-whites. Those are important observations when making a magazine, but for this particular portfolio, we had to keep reminding ourselves that this was different. That this was an attempt to single out the best. And only the best.

94. Arizona Highways License Plate MARCH 2012

Like most states — or maybe all states — the state of Arizona offers a collection of specialty plates that benefit good causes. Our plate, which features a photograph by Pulitzer Prizewinning photographer Jack Dykinga, made its debut in March 2012. The fee for our specialty plate, and all the others, is only $25. Of that, we get $17. In our case, that money helps support our mission of promoting tourism in Arizona, which, in turn, helps local businesses around the state.

95. Sorry, Vermont, No Offense OCTOBER 2013

In the fall of 2013, we launched a civil war. Of sorts. At a glance, the cover photo by Derek von Briesen seems benign. Rocks, trees, autumn leaves, a waterfall. What caused a stir wasn't the image, but rather the tongue-in-cheek cover line. Turns out, some folks in Vermont — all 623,657 of them at the time — weren't crazy about the words: "Autumn in Arizona & Why It's Better Here Than It Is in Vermont." Among the many calls I took was one from the governor's office in Montpelier. That's what got the attention of the Associated Press. After that, the story went viral. Even Time magazine weighed in: "It's a leaf-peeping smackdown. A magazine promoting tourism in Arizona (yes, Arizona) is boasting that its foliage season is better than Vermont's." The best response, though, came from our then-colleagues at Vermont Life , which was one of the great regional travel magazines in the country — sadly, it shut down in 2018 after 72 years of preeminence. To their credit, they counterpunched with a mocked-up cover about one of their state's scenic wonders. The cover line read: "Gorges in Vermont & Why Quechee Gorge Is Grander Than the Grand Canyon." It was a brilliant comeback to a feud that never really was.

96. David Muench Issue DECEMBER 2015

If you're at all familiar with this magazine, you've seen the incredible work of David Muench. He's been shooting for us for parts of eight decades, and he got his first cover in January 1955, at the age of 18. In 2015, when he was 79, we dedicated an entire issue to his legacy — something we'd never done before. In the process of putting that issue together, we were discussing some of his images, including a snowy ponderosa pine that ran on page 12. "I think if you just lighten the left trunk, it will be fine," he said. "And you could crop off a little on the left." In our world, it was the equivalent of watching Monet walk into the Musée de l'Orangerie and add a brush stroke to Water Lilies. Ten years later, David Muench is still regarded as one of the greatest landscape photographers ever. And he certainly is in our book.

97. Chris Gall Covers JANUARY 2017

In our long history, we'd never dedicated an entire year to a single theme — a collection where, in the words of Aristotle, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. That's what led to the Explore Arizona! series. Each month for 12 months, there were stories about history and culture and interesting people, along with the usual dose of landscape photography. The only difference is that each issue had a theme. And an illustrated cover by one of Arizona's most talented artists. “You know,” Chris Gall told me, “my dream project has always been to create a series of vintage travel posters for Arizona Highways.” And so, he did. The first subject in the series was the Grand Canyon, and it was followed by Petrified Forest National Park, Saguaro National Park and nine other beautiful places in the state. Those cover illustrations were later made into posters and puzzles, some of which are still available for purchase at ShopArizonaHighways.com.

98. Jerry Jacka Issue APRIL 2018

July 1958 is an important date in the history of Arizona Highways . That's when we first published a photograph by Jerry Jacka. It ran on page 23, and it was a shot of the Painted Desert, looking north from Route 66. Sixty years later, we dedicated an issue to a man who will be in the inaugural class of the Arizona Highways Hall of Fame. Mr. Jacka liked to tell a story about Joe Stacey, our editor in the early 1970s. By all accounts, Mr. Stacey was tough. But Mr. Jacka was determined. “I was trying to get a foot in the door,” he would say with a hint of pride. “So, I went down there with some pictures and an idea about prehistoric pottery. He didn't make any promises, but Joe encouraged me to pursue it, at my own expense. That's when he said: 'Jerry, I'll put you onstage. It's up to you to perform.” Boy, did he ever.

99. “The December Project” DECEMBER 2021

In the summer of 2021, I reached out to a group of artists to see if they'd be interested in working with us on something we were calling “The December Project.” The gist of it was simple: Poke around our extensive photo archive, select one of the many images, set up an easel and paint away. The response was overwhelming, and the artists' interpretations were spectacular. In December of that year, we presented the paintings in tandem with the photographs upon which they were based. The portfolio was beautiful, but the best part happened afterward. When I first reached out to the artists, I asked that they agree to donate at least half of the sale price of their paintings to a charity of their choice. There was no hesitation. In all, the artwork generated more than $75,000 for nonprofits all over the state.

100. 13th Issue JANUARY 2022 ARIZONA 

With the exception of four months in 1927, a couple of double issues during World War II and a special issue for the state's bicentennial in 1962, we've been printing 12 issues of Arizona Highways every year since our premiere. In January 2022, we expanded that number to 13. In the publishing world, what we created is called a “13th issue.” In our case, it was a bonus issue to say thanks to our subscribers for buying the other 12. The bonus issue was titled The Year in Pictures, and it featured some of our favorite outtakes from 2021. Every year, we sift through thousands and thousands of images in the process of making our magazines. Only a small fraction make the final cut. Sometimes, the photos don't measure up. Most times, though, they just don't fit for some reason. Our 13th issue is a celebration of those images. If you're a subscriber, we'll say it again: Thank you. When you fill out your subscription card — or order our license plate or visit our online store to buy a book or a puzzle or a calendar or anything else - you're helping us keep the lights on for another year. That's not something we take for granted. And we're grateful for your support. AH